Art from the heart for Mother's Day

AS A LONGTIME kindergarten teacher, Annelies Atchley knows it doesn't take too much to spark a child's creativity.

"Children are born like a bud of a flower. Every bud has the potential of becoming a beautiful flower. All we have to do is water it and nurture it," Atchley says. "It's like molding little artists."

Although she retired from teaching at Reed Elementary School in 1991, she continues to mold little artists at her Tiburon arts and crafts space, Mar West Studio, with its boxes and stacks of shells, jewels, papers, stamps, yarn, beads, treasures and trinkets.

On April 20, she will lead a free Mother's Day collage card-making workshop, the brainchild of Jaleh Etemad, whose mission as Tiburon's artist laureate is to organize free community art events.

The two 70-something mothers know just how precious a handmade Mother's Day card is.

"It's something you do from your heart," says Etemad, a mother of four and grandmother of two. "I like people to think about what they're doing, how they're going to do something that has meaning to them."

They are encouraging anyone interested in attending the workshop, which is open to all ages, to bring something personal to include in the collage — photos, stamps, a button.

"It makes a lot of difference when you know your child has made something from their own hands for you. For me as a mother, it is priceless," Etemad says.

Atchley had a talent for art as a child but, as much as she enjoyed molding clay, she preferred molding young minds. She still does.

At Mar West Studio, Atchley offers classes in ceramics, bookbinding, basket-weaving, doll-making, sewing, knitting and beadwork as well as collage.

"I love to work with kids. There's nothing better than to see a kid who says, 'I can't do it,' and I say, 'Yes you can' and they try and they do it," she says. "I love when kids discover their potential."

While Atchley admits she never framed any of her son's Mother's Day cards, she does frame his paintings. He's a professional artist, after all.

"I hang up his stuff all over the house," she says.

Vicki Larson can be reached at vlarson@marinij.com; follow her on Twitter at @OMGchronicles, fan her on Facebook at Vicki-Larson-OMG-Chronicles